We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website. By continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.ContinueFind out more

Definition of stoat in US English:

stoat

noun

A small carnivorous mammal of the weasel family which has chestnut fur with white underparts and a black-tipped tail. It is native to both Eurasia and North America and in northern areas the coat turns white in winter.

‘In the mainland island in the Nelson Lakes National Park the focus is to be on a whole range of pests - wasps, possums, rodents and mustelids (mainly stoats, but also ferrets and weasels), deer and feral cats.’

‘Scientists are attempting to save birds like this one by translocating them to offshore islands free of introduced predators like rats, cats, stoats, and weasels.’

‘The robe is trimmed with ermine, which is the white winter coat of the stoat in northern regions of Europe.’

‘A cousin of mink, martens, otters, stoats, weasels and distantly related to seals, badgers are one of our oldest indigenous animals, whose fossil remains have been found to belong to the same era as mammoths.’

‘To minimize the risk of predation, which was mainly by stoats, Mustela erminea, and polecats, Mustela putorius, nest visits were kept to a minimum.’

‘The Tracking Mammals Partnership also aims to carry out surveys of otters, stoats, weasels and bats to try to determine whether their populations are declining and how they can be helped to thrive.’

‘As an ecologist and environmental writer, one of my main interests is to understand the damage that relatively recent introductions - from stoats to wasps to possums - have wreaked on native plants and animals.’

‘The production will tell the classic story of Toad, Mole, Ratty and Badger trying to overcome the evil ferrets, weasels and stoats who threaten to overrun the riverbank.’

‘They include pine marten, wildcat, stoat and weasel as well as golden eagles, merlin, peregrine falcon, golden plover and in time black grouse and capercaillie.’

‘Rats, stoats, ferrets, cats, and possums have decimated native animals that were unaccustomed to mammalian predators.’